Clinical Research

There is a vast number of treatments on the market for the management of wounds and burns, representing a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide. These include conventional wound dressings, dressings that incorporate growth factors to stimulate and facilitate the wound healing process, and skin substitutes that incorporate patient-derived cells.

Human adipose stem cells (ASCs) have emerged as a promising treatment paradigm for skin wounds. Recent works demonstrate that the therapeutic effect of stem cells is partially mediated by extracellular vesicles, which comprise exosomes and microvesicles.

Today the American Association for Wound Care Management (AAWCM) applauded a medical study conducted by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and the Analysis Group in Boston that found Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) Therapy can reduce the rate of major amputations among Medicare patients suffering from diabetic foot ulcers.

Prevention has been a primary goal of pressure ulcer research. Despite such efforts, pressure ulcers remain common in hospitals and the community. Moreover, pressure ulcers often become chronic wounds that are difficult to treat and tend to recur after healing.

Skin, our largest and outermost organ, faces numerous challenges, including wounds, infections, inflammatory disorders, and cancer. Fortunately, it does not meet these challenges alone. Our skin is home to complex microbial communities, the skin microbiota, that play a fundamental role in the protection and control of this barrier surface.

Barrier tissues, like the skin, are sites where noninvasive commensal microbes constantly interact with resident T cells. These encounters can result in commensal-specific T cell responses that promote, for example, host defense and tissue repair.

All four patients with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) enrolled in a Phase 2 study testing the safety and efficacy of Krystal Biotech’s topical gene therapy candidate KB103 have received the treatment. Results are expected to be known by mid-year.

Hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (PU) continue to occur despite an ongoing focus on prevention. The aim of this review was to identify and evaluate primary research which links pressure ulcer risk assessment with prescription and implementation of preventative interventions for hospitalised adults.